Arm Partners with Intel Foundry Services

Arm and Intel announced today that Arm will use Intel Foundry Services (IFS) to build low-power compute system-on-chip (SoC) designs on the Intel 18A process. This process, which Intel says will go live in 2025 in the U.S. and EU, will supposedly utilize a 1.8 nm manufacturing process.

“There is growing demand for computing power driven by the digitization of everything, but until now fabless customers have had limited options for designing around the most advanced mobile technology,” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said. “Intel’s collaboration with Arm will expand the market opportunity for IFS and open up new options and approaches for any fabless company that wants to access best-in-class CPU [intellectual property] and the power of an open system foundry with leading-edge process technology.”

The deal will initially focus on mobile chipsets, but Intel says it will expand into automotive, Internet of Things (IoT), data center, aerospace, and government solutions.

The obvious concern here is whether Intel, which has struggled to miniaturize its manufacturing processes, can meet its goal of a 1.8 nm manufacturing process within two years given that the firm today is struggling to supply 10 nm chipsets. Of course, Intel will likely use its unique definition for the density of its manufacturing processes: today’s Intel 7 chipsets are actually 10 nm designs, for example.